


Brighter than Sunshine ~ Volume 1, Chapter 12 "Frat House Rescue"

by Cassie_Sandsmark, Somuchbraver



Series: Brighter Than Sunshine Volume 1 [12]
Category: DCU
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, DC AU Freeform, DC Cinematic Universe Freeform, F/F, Femslash, Metropolis, Trans Female Character, Verbal Abuse, hints of physical abuse, lots of screaming, naughty words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6653356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassie_Sandsmark/pseuds/Cassie_Sandsmark, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somuchbraver/pseuds/Somuchbraver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassie struggles with how she might monitor crime in the city and how bummed she is to be hiding almost everything about her relationship with Samantha from the public eye in relation to two events: her girlfriend calling her out to an incident at a frat party that she happens to be attending, and receiving a probable booty-call text from her ex. It begins to become clear that there are many closets in their relationship, each a little more frustrating than the last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brighter than Sunshine ~ Volume 1, Chapter 12 "Frat House Rescue"

**Author's Note:**

> This story is about a romantic relationship between Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) and Rule 63'd (female) version of 'Superboy.' We've omitted the majority of the Superfamily from our universe to make this work and put this story 10 years after the events in Man of Steel. 'Superman' has been active for at least that long, and Cassie herself (as Wonder Girl) has been active for a little over 3 years, since she was 15.
> 
> Follow Our Tumblr at (http://brighterthnsunshine.tumblr.com/) for fan-art, photo manips, information related to our story as it progresses, and more!
> 
> Mission Statement: Lady superheroes need to make out more.

## Brighter than Sunshine ~ Volume 1, Chapter 12 "Frat House Rescue"

[Brighter than Sunshine Tumblr](http://brighterthnsunshine.tumblr.com)

While her girlfriend was out primping, partying, and cavorting, however, Cassandra - Wonder Girl - went to work. After reaching a cruising altitude above the streets of the city, Cassie began to soar along the major streets and thoroughfares, looking for something she could do - a crime she could stop, or someone in need whom she could help. Unfortunately, as the young blonde super heroine was beginning to discover, very rarely does a modern metropolis go out of its way to alert residents - and high flying superheroes soaring over head - when crime is happening, or when a man in a builder's bucket hanging off of the edge of an eight-story apartment building trying to hang a 'For Rent' sign is suddenly going to slip off of the ledge he was working on and start plummeting towards his death- which is why it was very good that Cassie just happened to be passing by at the time that the latter happened. Catching the man at about the second floor, the blonde girl knocked the wind out of him, but she also had him safely on the ground a second later. "Hold on," she told the startled, gasping man as he tried to catch his breath. "You'll be alright now."

As she was waiting for the man to recover, a handful of cars and pedestrians moving along the street came slowly to a halt. "Yo, Look! It's Wonder Girl!" someone called out, and Cassie swung around to see a small crowd gathering behind her, with cellphones and cameras aimed in her direction.

"UH, hey guys." She grinned, waving awkwardly. For just a moment the young blonde superheroine hesitated, wondering if she shouldn't stick around a while longer than she usually did, try to ingratiate herself with some of the residents of the city she was beginning to call home. But then, suddenly, the cellphone in the front right pocket of her jeans began to vibrate, and pulling it out with the excited expectation that the message received might be from Sammi, Cassie suddenly felt a knot twisting in the pit of her stomach when she saw that instead it was from someone she had no interest whatsoever in speaking to - her ex, Tim. Mood somewhat dampened, Cassie sighed and gestured back at the man she'd just rescued, the specter of yesterday morning's nearly disastrous encounter with a crowd of cameras making her suddenly uncomfortable with the cameras and the crowd all around her. "This man needs to catch his breath. He may also have a slight case of whiplash.. Can someone sit with him, maybe call 911 if he needs it?" She asked, hopefully.

A young black girl - no more than 15, wearing a big red sweatshirt over a white and black polka-dot skirt and black tights - came forward, grinning and nodding. "Sure thing, Wonder Girl! We got this!" Most of the rest of the crowd seemed to nod or assent as well, and cameras started coming down as Cassie stepped back, gathering her breath and then leaping into the sky with a grateful smile and a wave. "Thanks, guys! See you around!" The crowd cheered and called her name as she flew away, and as she broke above the city skyline again, Cassie couldn't help but to break out in a small smile. She rolled over on her back and grinned up at the stars, letting go of a pent-up breath of frustration and fear that she'd been holding onto ever since she saw the news broadcasts last night - the worry that maybe the people of Metropolis did just see her as another super powered menace, doing more harm than good. At least it doesn't seem like EVERYONE feels that way, she thought to herself, somewhat reassured.

But there was still a dark cloud to this silver lining. As she whispered through the skies over the city, Cassie pulled out her cellphone again and stared at the message notification on her screen, her lips twisted into a half-scowl, half grimace as she read the digital print "Message Received from 'Tim,' over and over. What does he want? Can't he just leave me alone already? We've been over for almost a year already, and he hasn't even talked to me in over six months. Why now? Briefly, the blonde girl considered just deleting the message without reading it. But as she prepared to do just that, she found herself hesitating - not out of any lingering affection for her former steady - if you could call it that - but out of... well, call it professional concern. More than once, Tim had contacted her by cellphone when he was in a jam and needed a hand. She ought to at least read what he had to say, right? What if it was important?

"Oh, fuck it, fine." Cassie grumbled, punching up the 'read message' dialog on her phone and waiting for the message to retrieve. As quickly as she was soaring through the city, bouncing from one cell-tower's range to another, it took a minute to pull up. When it did, however, Cassie was somewhat taken aback by the message's contents: 

Oh Screw you, Tim. Stay the hell out of my life. Cassie thought loudly at the phone as she rolled her eyes, deleted the message, and stuffed the device back in her pants. Taking a deep breath, the blonde girl shook her hair out behind her head and tried to focus on the job she was supposed to be doing: safeguarding the streets and citizens of Metropolis. But lucky save aside, Cassie had still not come up with a reliable way to figure out when something was going down in the city, so that she could get there quick enough to intervene before major damage was done. As she continued to soar above the city streets, the blonde girl tried to brainstorm up some solutions to that problem. A few dozen discarded ideas - such as having Samantha call her whenever she heard something with her own super hearing - later, however, she set herself down on the roof of the Daily Planet building and frowned down at the street below her while she tried to come up with a single viable idea that might work. What did Diana do when she wanted to know what was going on in the city? Oh, right - Justice League communicators. Martian Manhunter. Cheater. Almost as soon as her boots hit the ground, however, Cassie was started to hear an amused chuckle break out behind her. "Superheroes and tall buildings. It never fails."

Recognizing the voice with some surprise and delight, Cassie spun around and grinned when she saw Lois Lane leaning back against the base of the golden globe, staring out over the city herself. "Hey! Wow, I never thought I'd see you again so soon, certainly not twice in the same day," Cassie proclaimed, setting her hands on her hips and letting the wind pick up her hair and swirl it around her face.

"Me either, kiddo, but it's good to see you again - and up and about with some energy and a spring in your step this time - even better," Lois quipped, pulling a pair of reading glasses down off of her face and lowering the stack of papers she was thumbing through to reveal the broad smirk she was wearing. "See you really took my exhortation to heart, huh?"

"What exh---" Cassie started, slightly confused, but then she remembered their conversation from before and blushed, smiling self-consciously and ducking her head so that she could scratch the back of her neck. "Oh, yeah, that. Well, if he's not here to watch out for them," she tipped her head back over her shoulder - out generally in the direction of the City, "...I guess this is my home now too."

Lois smiled a kinder, gentler smile this time, tucking the glasses in the breast-pocket of her blouse and the papers under her arm. "Well, consider me a supporter of that plan. Not that Superman's not great, cause he is," she smiled and ducked her own head, blushing slightly, and then smirked again, "but as I keep telling him, not even Superman can be everywhere at once. This city's been needing another resident superhero or two for years now."

Cassie grinned, accepting the reporter's encouragement happily. "... well, it can have me, as long as it wants me," she said with a shrug.

Lois grinned, and then raised an eyebrow at the younger girl, cocking her head to the side. "...so then what are you doing here? Why aren't out there helping innocents, fighting the good fight, waving the superhero flag and all that?"

"Uhh..." Cassie winced and rubbed her shoulder awkwardly, feeling embarrassed to admit her own shortcomings, "some... technical difficulties." She tapped the side of her head, just below her ear. "Unlike some people we know, I don't have super hearing. Although I can fly around and just wait for something to happen right under my nose, that doesn't seem very effective." She glanced up at the golden globe orbiting just above them and smiled fondly. "I... had a really good night here about a week ago, and I thought maybe if I came here to think, a flash of inspiration might hit me."

"Huh, so no super hearing?" Lois seemed to make a mental note of that fact and then stepped up alongside the younger girl, gazing out over the city beneath them both. "I guess that would present some problems, especially in a city the size of Metropolis. But surely you must have some ideas how to go about fixing that problem?" She glanced expectantly at Cassie with a teasing smirk on her face, while the blonde girl blinked back in confusion.

"...wha--- I don't have..." Cassie cocked her head to the side and scowled at Lois. "...what are you suggesting?"

"Well," Lois teased the other girl good-naturedly, "it's been a while, but I believe read somewhere that there had been some semi-confirmed reports that Wonder Girl had once had a fling with a certain Boy Wonder. I don't believe he has super hearing either- so how does he manage to figure out what's going on in Gotham City?"

The blonde girl blinked and stared open-mouthed at Lois for a moment, then cocked her head to the side and frowned. "...you want me to call my ex and ask him to help me out. Do you know that little punk just made a joke about hearing rumors that I might be dating a girl?" She scowled again, growling and turning away from the reported to stare out across the city again. Nuh uh. No way. There is NO WAY I am calling Tim for- for fucking anything. Screw. That.

But even as she was thinking those thoughts, another idea began to occur to her. Meanwhile, Lois was shrugging, turning away from the cityscape below them and seating herself unfearfully on the edge of the banister behind them. "Well, it was just a dumb idea," the reporter was saying. "I'm sure you'll think of something better eventually."

"No, actually," Cassie turned and grinned at the older girl, her eyes beginning to light up with excitement. "It was a great idea. But I don't have to call Ti-" her mouth froze, and then worked wordlessly to try and turn the name she had almost said out loud into something else, while Lois' eyebrows shot up with something slight more than polite curiosity. "... Tiiiiiiiiiiiii that guy I used to date," Cassie ended lamely, before plunging on, "but he's not the only Bat-fam member I have on speed dial."

Samantha arrived at the nail salon late but not so late as to be unforgivable. She made nice with the sister she'd made the appointment with and got her first Zeta official manicure. Fortunately, the Zetas' wore their acrylics reasonably short, because it didn't occur to any of them that that might be an issue in Samantha's life and nobody was very demonstrative about caring. In fact, they seemed perfectly happy to edge around the issue of Samantha's girlfriend or ignore it entirely with the exception of the girls who needed urgently to know for sure- was she gay or was she straight? When she wrapped it up at the nail salon, she went back to her room for another hour of studying and then changed into her most blatantly manipulative dress, did her hair and picked out a matching couture bag. She set out into the evening with a coat in case anyone asked questions about how she could possibly survive the brisk fall wind in that outfit. She planned to do a circuit of the top frats, three of whom were having parties for "thirsty Thursday" and the for the other one she planned to "bump into" a few of the guys between. The first party had been attended by total pushovers who were clearly much thirstier for female attention than their reputations seemed to let on. At least, that's what Sam figured. It could have been her freshman "fresh meat" status, that most frats on campus were eager to meet the new Zeta pledges, or the way she looked in that dress that pushed them over the top. She was at the second party being charming and ambiguously flirtatious with a few of the guys when the entire frat house suddenly shook, trembling down to its foundation. She seemed to be the only one who noticed the first time, but the second more pronounced tremble made one of the guys stop mid-sentence. "What the f..." he muttered. There was a crash out in the back by the pool followed by another quake, which was followed quickly by a long and slow ripping sound. The whole crowd hurried toward the back door. In the back yard, a frat boy with the house's tee on and a backwards trucker hat was holding a struggling girl by the arm and making pleading gestures at her. Behind her head, the shingling on the overhanging roof was ripping itself off in one long strip.

The whole of the crowd stood awed by the shingling but Samantha could pinpoint the source, overhearing the argument that was happening on the ground, each emotional punctuation of which shook both the frat house and the tool shed leaning behind it. Her assumption was the girl, so she figured the best way to end this was to get her away from the guy. That much, she could do as a normal every-day girl. She jumped around the pool and got between them, prying the frat guy's fingers away from her arm. "Hey, you both need to calm down, alright? Stop it."

The frat guy hollered back, "TELL HER TO STOP IT. You can't do this to me, Britt, YOU CAN'T!"

The intensity of his rage seemed to hit both girls like a wave but Brittany only took a fraction of the psychic blow and Samantha didn't even quiver. "You. need. to back. the fuck. OFF," she answered.

This wasn't what frat boy wanted to hear. "You need to mind your own business, you bitch!" With that, the roof went flying off the shed and shot toward them. Sam could have sped away with the girl, but she would have had to explain that, so instead she took the roof in the face, knocking them both into the pool with Samantha's arm securely around Brittany. The crowd erupted with an even mixture of screams and frenzied laughter, with a few scattered "not cool, bros!" here and there.

Samantha counted to ten slowly under water after she let Brittany struggle to the surface to make sure she seemed sufficiently dazed by the blow, and then swam to the side of the pool opposite the raging frat guy to pull herself out. By the time she got to her purse, and thereby her phone, the guy was creating a cyclone of debris, big chunks of the shed behind him coming loose and joining the whirling twister over the pool. He was screaming and crying red-faced the entire time. She pulled out her phone with still wet hands and choked, "I'm calling the cops," by way of pretty unnecessary explanation and dialed Cassie.

When the blonde girl's phone began to buzz for a second time this evening, Cassie groaned and rolled her eyes, pulling it out and showing it to Lois as she said "Oh my god, if this is him calling for another interstate booty call, I will literally drop kick his Boy Wonder ass into the Gotham Harbor." When she flipped the phone over and checked the message, however, her demeanor suddenly changed, and she brightened. "Oh! It's Sammi." She grinned like a school girl at Lois and blushed as she pressed the receive button and lifted the device to her ear. "Hey... honnnney." She said, still a little awkward and unclear how to converse with the other girl around people. "Your parties wind up being all dull and lame?"

Sam couldn't help but smile into the phone despite the stressful situation at her back. The crowd was getting nervous and a few of the party-goers were trying the doors to get back inside only to find they were sealed closed. "Uhh, less dull than I usually prefer, actually. We've kind of got a "Carrie" situation going on here- or er- Larry? Barry? Could you get to the Delta Iota Kappa house in like- I dunno- twenty seconds?"

"Holy shit," Cassie swore, feeling a sudden stab of fear- not for herself, but for the girlfriend she'd left behind on the campus. "Are you okay? -Just get somewhere safe, I'll be right there!" Cassie blinked at the phone, turning it off, and stepped up onto the banister of the Planet's roof balcony, before she hesitated and looked over at Lois, wincing curiously. "...Do you know anything about the layout of Met U?"

Lois had stepped away from the younger girl to give her a modicum of privacy when the call from her girlfriend came in, but at Cassie's panicked response whatever she heard on the other end, and her question, the short, curvy brunette in the skirt-suit and killer heels looked up again. "...Sure, that's my alma mater. ...Why?"

"Apparently someone's tearing up a frat house? The... " She glanced at the phone again, and then back up. "Ohh! The Delta Iota Kappa House!" She looked helplessly at the reporter, shrugging. "...I have no idea where that is."

"Pfft," Lois rolled her eyes, grinning as she ribbed the younger girl. "What kind of cheerleader are you? Yeah, I know where that is. Is this a metahuman thing?"

The blonde girl nodded, her hair bouncing around her shoulders as she did so. "Sammi said it was like a 'Carrie' thing? Which I expect means shit's going down? I dunno, I never saw the movie."

"Blood, lots of blood." The brunette reporter reached into the purse she'd been carrying under her arm the whole time and pulled out a hair tie, swiftly pulling her hair back and tying it up before she held out a hand to the blonde superheroine. "Alright, we better hurry."

Cassie blinked at her. "UH...," the blonde girl raised an eyebrow, feeling hurried, but still confused, "...where are we going?"

"To campus!" Lois said insistently, thrusting her hand out again. "Come on, you can get us both there much faster than I can tell you where it is, you probably wouldn't be able to find it with my 10 year old directions anyway, and your girlfriend's down there! Let's go!" Not wasting any more time, Lois grabbed Cassandra's hand and pulled herself up and onto the other girl's body, hooking an arm around Cassie's shoulders and another around her waist. "Don't worry, I'm totally used to this."

The blonde girl shook her head, but she was in a hurry and had no time to argue with the reporter. "Ooookay, if you say so. But if you die, I'm telling Superman it was YOUR IDEA!" She spun around on the spot and then leapt into the sky, punching into the air at a velocity she'd never achieved before, streaking through the city and towards the school.

Behind the Delta Iota Kappa house, the frat boy was tearing around the swimming pool toward the group of people in a desperate- looking search for the girlfriend Samantha had ripped out of his grip. His eyes were red and he was swinging between pitiful and explosive rage in turns. Every time his anger arced, more shingles flew off the frat house roof and rained down in the pool, and the windows of the building cracked. "Britt- Brittany, come here. Come talk to me, BRITT WHY WON'T YOU TALK TO ME? You owe me that much, why won't you even tell me why you're doing this to me?"

When Brittany broke from the crowd Samantha was close behind her, feeling like this girl was probably the first person he was likely to tear in half. The girl stepped out but her body language was closed. "Chad I told you. Don't act like I didn't tell you a hundred times, you're not listening! I just want to be my own person for a change. I told you this, I don't have any other-"

He cut her off, bellowing, and the shed behind the pool exploded into splinters that shot like bullets in every direction. "YOU'RE LYING! You're- Britt that is so SO FUCKED, tell me what happened, and tell me how to fix it."

Cassie and Lois streaked through the sky at a screaming velocity that had their hair plastered to the sides and back of their heads. Cassie was gritting her teeth and grimacing the whole way, never having pushed her powers of flight and super speed this hard at once. At breakneck speed the pair approached the campus, and as soon as they cleared the tree coverage separating the school from the rest of the city, Cassie called out over the rushing wind "Where?!"

Lois scanned the campus as quickly as she could, trying to place memories and physical recollections from 10 years ago with the aerial view that she was seeing now. Fortunately, it only took her a minute - not so much because of her analytical skills as a reporter, or her memories of the place, but because of the exploding splinters raining all over campus. "Uh... there!"

Cassie had already seen the explosion, and was diving in towards the place. "Get ready to jump!" She called out.

Samantha turned her back on the flying splinters, a movement that looked self-protective but actually spread her in front of the crowd as the wood shards threatened the students. Brittany wasn't in her reach, but somehow they missed her and Chad entirely. For such an explosive spike of rage, Chad didn't have a scratch on him yet. The explosion had scared Brittany though, even more than it had injured the crowd, and she started to edge around the pool, looking for an escape. Chad followed and Samantha got between them again. That's when the black haired girl's entire body lifted off the ground and slammed into the wood fence on the other side of the yard as fast as the shards of wood had flown. "Britt!" he yelled, "you're not just hurting ME now."

"Samantha!" Having dropped Lois off on the edge of the house property, Cassie hurtled in on the scene like a lightning bolt, sparkling and shining as she hit, crashing into the ground at 'Chad's' Feet. The impact of her landing hit like a thunderbolt from the heavens. The ground shook, dirt flew up around her in a circle and swirled before exploding out off onto the sides, and Chad flew off of his feet and crashed back into the ground several feet behind him. Cassie stretched to her full height, her hands contracting and her arm muscles flexing as she glared furiously at the boy groveling at her feet. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" She demanded.

Chad was momentarily cowed by the fact that Wonder Girl had barreled into the yard and seemed especially pissed off at him specifically, but it didn't take him too long to get his entitlement back. "I'm not doing anything! This is private property so why don't you take a walk?" On the other side of the yard, Samantha was annoyed to have to take a minute to pretend she was injured or even dazed, especially with her girlfriend on site.

Cassie glared at the dudebro in front of her, her costume - red and dark blue with the gold emblem on her chest - glowing in the light shining from the house behind the boy - and pulled out her lasso, uncoiling it slowly. "No," she said slowly and deliberately. "I don't think so. I think if I'm leaving, you're coming with me."

The house shook violently this time, the windows shattering from their frames like an earthquake. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. SHE DID THIS. SHE'S RUINING EVERYTHING. I JUST WANTED TO TALK." He angled around Cassie to try and see where his girlfriend had gone in her escape. "BRITT WHY CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT THIS."

"Maybe because you're terrifying her?" Cassie ventured, watching the house shake and shudder as she looped the lasso through her hand. It sparkled with golden fire. "You're tearing the place apart!"

"Babe, you're not scared of me, why would you be scared of me, you're not scared, right? That's just stupid, right? You're not scared," he angled at Brittany, who was at the end of the pool and happy to have Wonder Girl in between her and her now-ex-boyfriend. She knew better than to open her mouth to contradict him, but also wasn't going to say anything that would make the super powered heroine leave the scene. Chad took an affront to her silence, and the overhanging roof on the frat house flew off and went sailing for Brittany. "SHE'S A LIAR, YOU BITCHES ARE TWISTING THIS WHOLE THING. WHY ISN'T ANYONE LISTENING?!? I HAVE FEELINGS, TOO, BRITT!"

Cassie leapt up into the air and smashed the flying overhang into several smaller pieces with an overhand punch that sent the pieces smashing down into the ground and burying them there. "Stop it!" She yelled at the frat boy, hovering in the air above him. "You're going to HURT SOMEONE."

The shed that had exploded earlier left a pile of tools behind and when Wonder Girl raised her voice they all levitated. "I'M going to HURT SOMEONE? YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT PAIN." All the tools turned in Cassie's direction and shot right at her. Samantha saw the attack coming and shot straight to her feet where she'd been playing possum, slumped against the fence. Her dress was still heavy with the water it'd soaked up in the pool and was hanging soggily off her figure. She looked around a bit wildly, finding no way to assist without being suspiciously super in front of the crowd.

Cassie cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at the assemblage of tools, then turned her steely-eyed and burning gaze on the frat boy and let them hit her, one after another, without reacting. "...are you through?" She dropped to the ground in front of the Frat boy and shook her head, her blonde hair bouncing as she softened her voice. "...Look, I understand that you're in pain," she soothed, lifting her hands in a pacifying manner, "But that doesn't give you the right to terrify and threaten anyone else, especially not your... your..." she shrugged, "whatever. Now you haven't hurt anyone yet, not seriously, you can still stop this. Or I can stop you."

When the tools struck Cassie uselessly, Chad's frustration made the house tremble again, but he was getting the sense that he was outmatched. "I just want to talk to my girlfriend. I just- she needs to hear me out, because I can fix this- If- Britt, if you would just LISTEN..."

Brittany felt a little emboldened by Cassie's position between them. "This isn't about you, Chad! I told you that to begin with," she explained.

The blonde superheroine tipped her head to the side in the direction of the frat boy's... former? Ex? Girlfriend and then glanced back at Chad when the girl finished speaking. "...I think she says 'no.' Sorry Chad, but now it's time to come with me."

The closest wall of the frat house began to peel away from the rest of the building, and the crowd screamed as it loomed over them, trying to scatter out of the way in all directions. "YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME. YOU OWE ME A REAL EXPLANATION. YOU CAN'T JUST SAY NO, YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" The wall ripped suddenly away and trembled in mid-air.

Cassie hauled off and socked the kid right in the jaw. Not her hardest punch ever, but she wanted the kid to go down, so she made it count. Chad folded easily, hitting the cement with a thud, but as soon as his eyes closed, the side of the house that he'd ripped away started to fall toward the yard, the students trapped there running in all directions trying to avoid it.

Cassie leapt up into the sky and caught the side of the building as it began to collapse on the yard. It buckled when it hit her hands, and bits of the siding began to snap off and fall all over the yard, but the basic structure held. Cassie groaned as she absorbed the gravity and momentum of the collapsing wall, but she slid down towards the ground as the frame began to buckle, trying to slowly lower it without crushing anyone.

The students all did their part by backing out of the way as Cassie lowered the side of the building to the ground, all dazed and awed and some of them staring warily at the unconscious frat boy on the ground. As soon as Cassie had set the wall down, Brittany ran over and hugged her tightly. "Oh my god, thank you. I thought he was going to take it hard, but I had no idea..."

The blonde superheroine backed away from the ruined wall and then let out a 'wooomphf!' of surprise as the downed frat boy's ex collided with her chest. "H-hey, it’s okay..." She said, her eyes blinking rapidly, "It's alright. He can't hurt you anymore." She pulled back from the hug and looked the other girl in the eyes. "I mean it, he's not gonna come after you again."

Brittany touched her own cheek with a little blush and nodded quickly, embarrassed by her outburst. "What are they gonna get him for, really? Destruction of property? I'm just- cutting him out. That's what I was trying to do anyway."

"I know," The blonde girl said softly, looking at Brittany sympathetically. "But when you did that, he used metahuman abilities on you, and on other people, even after I gave him a chance to stop. He's dangerous, and probably a little obsessed. So my..." she glanced over Brittany's shoulder at the dark-haired figure of Lois Lane, who was coming up behind Brittany with a blanket and a cup of steaming coffee. She wrapped the blanket around the shaken girl and pressed the cup into her hand. "My friend's gonna come with me when I take Chad to the MCPD. And she's gonna testify to what she saw, and what she heard. And then Chad's... gonna go away for a while." Lois nodded, encouraging Cassie with a smile.

Brittany's face went slack with relief and looked over at Chad's unconscious form next to the pool, nodding as she wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee. "Good. That's good." Samantha came around the pool as people started clearing out, the underage drinkers not wanting to be present in case the cops were called.

Cassie glanced over at Samantha when she came into her field of view, raising her eyebrows significantly and then nodding at the girl in front of her. "We're gonna take Chad now, okay? You're gonna be alright here, Brittany."

Samantha gave a chuckle and touched Brittany's elbow. "Cmon, let's see if any of the remaining bathrooms are clean enough to get dry in." Brittany smiled in response to the light friendly tone she took and nodded, looking back at Wonder Girl. "I'll be fine. Thank you, again." Sam was careful to make only fleeting eye contact with Wonder Girl as they stepped gingerly back into the house.

Cassie stared after Samantha's back as the other girl walked away. She grimaced and then glanced down at the ground, kicking some of the wet dirt under her feet. I hate this.

Lois picked up on the grumpy vibe coming off of her young friend and then stepped up beside her. "C'mon, hero," she said, kicking the downed and unconscious frat boy with the tip of her high heeled shoe. "Let's get sleeping beauty here to Star Labs Metahuman Take-In Center before he wakes up or Lexcorp's Armored Security Forces show up."

Sam nudged the other girl inside and changed the subject nimbly, finding a bathroom that was still in-tact so that they could undo the damage done by the pool water. While they were doing that, she took out her cell and texted Cassie. 

Cassie bent down and started to wind the lasso around the downed guy's arms and legs, nodding at Lois. "Alright, so what-- we go, we drop the guy off, and then we leave?" She frowned and looked up at Lois with concern in her eyes. "I wasn't kidding, you know they'll need your testimony to put this guy away, since I'm... technically breaking the law, and no one else here tonight is going to want to come forward and rat on their 'friend.'"

Lois shrugged. "It's alright. I've turned in more than my share of super powered creeps already, this won’t be anything new. And if anyone asks why I was hanging out with you, I'll just tell them the truth." She smirked, and pulled the press badge out of her purse. "I'm a reporter. You're where the action is."

Cassie smiled, standing up and heaving the unconscious boy over her shoulder. She held out her hand at Lois. "So what would the big guy say in a situation like this?"

Lois grinned, taking the offered hand stepping in, wrapping an arm around Cassie's neck and another around her waist. "Oh, I dunno. Probably something like 'Up, up and away!," She joked, throwing her voice down a few octaves.

Cassie grinned, throwing themselves into the air. "I think I'm gonna like working with you, Miss Lane."

"Me too, Wonder Girl, Me too." On the flight to Star Labs, Cassie had been pensive and still for the first several minutes of awkward silence, until Lois had elbowed her in the side. "... hey, kiddo. You missed our landing."

"What?" Cassie's head came around and she blinked, trying to catch her bearings. Sure enough, she had soared right by Star Labs, right over the Harbor, and was now halfway through West Side already. "Oh shit," she groaned, hauling the three of them around and back in the opposite direction. "Sorry, I ... my mind was... "

"First time you've had to do the secret identity thing in front of the girl you like?" Lois hazarded, smirking.

"...yeah. How'd you gue-" Cassie shrugged and shook her head, blonde hair flying around her face as, behind her, Chad began to stir, moaning lightly. "Oh, hold on," she grumbled, coming to a dead stop just above the Harbor. Swing Chad around to the front of her body again, she grinned into his slowly waking, unfocused eyes. "Hello, there. This is your in-flight stewardess. We have not yet reached our destination, so please," she slapped him hard upside the head and he conked right out again, "feel free to go back to sleep, asshole."

Hauling the kid back over her shoulder again, Cassie began to soar towards STAR again, and she glanced over at Lois. "…secret identities aren't fun."

"Nope," Lois agreed easily, smirking. "But you learn to live with them. Or you don't," she shrugged. "For some people they're really important. For others..." She shook her head. "Either you feel like being a private person, having a private life is important to you, or you don't." She raised an eyebrow over at Cassie. "Course, matters a bit what the people in your life think about having their lives exposed to public scrutiny. How's your girl feel about it?"

Cassie shrugged, looping around in a circle slowly over STAR LABS and then preparing to make her descent. "I dunno. I mean, I guess we haven't talked about that. Not really. But there are other things she's not so thrilled to be fully out about- to everyone. I don't wanna rock the boat for her any more than we already have."

"Well, think about it, and talk to your girlfriend about it, too," Lois advised Cassie as they touched down and she hopped off, springing up the steps to the back entrance of Star Lab's MI wing and pushing the red 'After Hours Emergency' button on the wall. "Any decision you make about your identity is something you shouldn't make alone. Not if you really like the girl. But whatever you decide to do - A Mask, Glasses, Quit Cheer leading, or whatever.," she told her young friend, straightening her wind-blown hair and slipping on her shades with a grin, "do it fast: cause I can tell you this: you ain't gonna have the freedom of choice for long, sister."

After Cassandra dropped Lois and the unconscious Chad off at the receiving wing of Star Lab's Metahuman In-Take Center (where some surprisingly sympathetic staff members promised the blonde superheroine that they would wait a good five minutes before remembering to call the Metahuman Task Force), Cassie leapt into the sky again, soaring back towards the Campus. While she soared, the blonde girl in the red and blue costume sighed and tried to deal with the frustrating and conflicting emotions she was feeling. Back at the frat party, Samantha had barely looked at her, barely acknowledged her. Which was cool, right? If Sammi had looked at her, talked to her, acted at all like they did when they were alone together, it might have blown Cassie's cover entirely. But ...

It Still Sucks. She pouted. This had been the first time she'd had to interact with her girlfriend in her public identity without being able to... well, talk to her. She didn't much enjoy it. Cassie slowed directly over the campus, hovering in midair as she tried to decide whether she should go straight home or stop by Samantha's place first and check on her. Pulling out her cellphone again, she re-read the message she'd received from her girlfriend after she'd planted the frat boy face first in the ground. Sighing the blonde girl ran her fingers through her hair as she pushed the phone back into her jeans again. She tried to sort through the things she was feeling as she did so. She liked being Samantha's hero. She disliked it being a secret. She was so happy, so excited about this new relationship that she wanted everyone to know, and to see how happy she was, how excited she was. She wanted Sammi to know how special she was, and how much she liked her, she wanted to kiss her in public, and take her breath away with daring public displays of affection, just the kind of thing her dark haired, blue eyed girlfriend said she liked. Instead, they both pretended neither knew the other at all this evening. And that blew.

Plus, Tim's message was still rankling in the back of Cassie's mind. Somehow, either because Donna's mouth was too big or because MMCPD cops talked to much, word was starting to get around that 'Wonder Girl' might be dating a member of the fairer sex. Tim thought that was just a funny, weird rumor that he could use to make a weird, indecent booty call. She wanted to shut him up, she wanted to make 'Wonder Girl's' bisexuality an open thing so that he couldn't take the occasion to tease her about it anymore, so that he would really get it that she had moved on, found someone new. Someone who was starting to get to know her as he'd never bothered to. Hovering above the campus, Cassie bit the side of her lip and then frowned, locating Samantha's dorm with her eyes and soaring down in that direction. Landing outside of her room in tree just a few feet away from her bedroom window, she glanced all about to make sure no one was watching before she leapt the three feet from tree to fire-escape ladder and rapped on the outside of her girlfriend's window.

Samantha washed the chlorine out of her hair when she got back to her dorm and toweled it off, opting for going straight to pajamas over getting dressed to try to strike out into the night again. She was in her silk pink shorts and the matching tank when Cassie knocked on the window- taking notes from an open book on the bed. She jumped up at the knock because no one else ever came to her window, and slid it open, leaning out with a smile. "Hey you."

Cassie grinned when Samantha opened the window and put a finger over her lips with one hand, while she reached out and grabbed her girlfriend's hand and pulled her out through the window, planting her lips on her girlfriend's in a hungry kiss as she threw them both up into the sky, shooting them straight up into the sky over the city, into the cloud coverage and straight up, up, and up until they broke through the cloud coverage and into the open night sky, with the stars swirling slowly above them. There, she broke the kiss, pulling her head back and smiling into Samantha's bright blue eyes. "...sorry..." she said, unapologetically, "I just had to."

Samantha kissed her back and giggled as they floated up in the sky, sliding her arms around her neck and kissing her bottom lip. "Nice to see you too."

"Well, I'm just glad you're okay," The blonde girl said with a smile, her green eyes roaming over Sammi's face, touching her nose against Samantha's in return for the kiss. "I officially hate secret identity public interaction protocol," she complained.

She chuckled and pushed some hair out of Cassie's face as the wind tossed it. "It does lack glamour. I figured though, if I'm dating you, I'm not allowed to even know Wonder Girl."

Cassie nodded, pouting but then smiling at Samantha's efforts to keep the hair out of her face. "Yeah, I know, I know. I just wanted to come by and tell you that it sucks." She shrugged. "Kinda the capper on a semi-crappy evening, actually."

Samantha smiled, because she did like the acknowledgment of the fact that Cassie found their lack of eye contact at one particular moment- a moment in which she was pretty busy heroing- troubling. "What happened to make the evening so crappy?"

Cassie pulled out her phone and showed it to Samantha before stuffing it back in her jeans. "Tim. Somehow he heard that Wonder Girl might be dating a chick, and he thought that was a good occasion to text me, make a joke out of it, and invite me to call in to Gotham for a hook-up any time I needed to get away. And since I can't just pose for a big flashy kiss with you in front of the Daily Planet in my costume, I feel like anything I send back to him is just going to sound like 'nuh uh, I totally have a girlfriend.'" She frowned and shrugged, pouting again. "Just bummed me out. Especially after Lois suggested I should call him and get him to help me figure out how to tune into what's happening in the city... since I don't have super hearing and my wonderful Swiss-army knife of a girlfriend can't come with me."

Samantha's eyebrows shot sky-high and she pursed her lips a bit, her tongue pressed hard against the back of her teeth. "I have an idea what you can send him back," she said, slowly and quietly.

"Well," Cassie grinned and rolled her eyes, "I can think of plenty of things to send him, but since I can't box up your fist and spring load it so that when he opens it it breaks his nose, nothing else really seems adequate."

She fished the phone out of Cassie's pocket with a little smirk, a smirk that may have been a little more vicious than mirthful, and held it out at arm's length, turned the camera toward them. Then with her other hand, she took Cassie's chin in her hand to tip her face toward hers and kissed her soundly. She stuck a dainty middle finger up between them and the camera, facing it, and snapped a couple selfies.

"Mmmrrrphhh!" Cassie was surprised and startled by the kiss, but she didn't fight it. Instead, she kissed Samantha back and grinned, giggling into her girlfriend's face and feeling excited butterflies dancing in her belly at the possessive display. "My my," she whispered, grinning, as she took the phone back, her cheeks flushed, "mmm, okay." She tapped a few buttons on her phone, playing with her hair with her free hand and biting on her lip with her teeth, and then sent the best of the selfies off to Tim. "And... that does it."

Samantha laughed, feeling a bit victorious and a bit of schadenfreude at how quickly Cassie had decided to send along those selfies. She had figured there was probably a 50/50 chance of her girlfriend agreeing to being so crass about the whole thing. Well, this little shit had started the crassness, and Samantha never left a fight unfinished. "Think that'll be sufficient?"

"Well, I think it'll probably shut him up in the short term. We'll see about the long term- you might still get a chance to punch him in the face if you're lucky," She winked and laughed again, pressing her face to Samantha's and letting out a happy sigh. "Mmmmmm why are you so awesome and wonderful? Why can't I ever just be cool around you and not turn into a pile of mushy giggly goo?" She laughed. "I'm totally cool with most other people, but when it comes to you I am just a big, sappy, love-struck teenager who giggles and titters and doodles our names inside of hearts on the back of my notebooks."

Samantha grinned. "Well, I am much more gorgeous than most people. That tends to throw one's cool off-kilter. I think your problem runs a little deeper, though," she teased, kissing her nose. "I'm also finding myself pretty compromised by becoming a total sap in your presence." She smiled, sliding her hands along Cassie's shoulder blades, her lashes fluttering. "There are worse fates, and less worthy causes."

Cassie smiled up at Samantha, her eyes sparkling once again. "I am such a goner then. ‘Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours,' she sang, teasingly. Her hands slid around Samantha's back, supporting her and holding her up, a thousand feet above the ground, while the stars and the moon wheeled overhead. She pressed her lips against Samantha's cheek and chuckled. "...mmm... I just wanna stay up here all night and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist, but I should probably take you back to your room and the ultra-fascinating book you were reading, huh?"

Sam groaned and rolled her eyes at the mention of more school work. "I'm so ready for this week to end. I feel like I've spent the last two days doing penance for having any fun at all. I thought college was supposed to be at least a little about partying and having lots and sex."

Cassie shrugged, smiling sympathetically and making eyes at Sammi. "Well, don't look at me. If I knew anything about science I would offer to be your study buddy, but you're dating the girl who flunked high school Chemistry." She blushed. "Oh, and I am definitely making sure you have room for lots and lots of sex in your schedule. Seriously, just you try making me wait a whole week to get at a taste of you."

"That sounds like a ridiculously unfun challenge. I'd much rather try the inverse." Samantha smirked. "What are you doing for winter break?"

Cassie kissed her with a gleeful laugh, but then raised an eyebrow at the follow up question. "...dah... what now? Random Segue is Random, sexy. Also, isn't that like three months from now? I'm not even sure what I'm doing... uh... the day after tomorrow," she laughed. "Why do you ask?"

Samantha laughed and kissed her slowly, sliding her fingers through her hair. "Not so random. I'm just thinking of the longest possible stretch in which I could spend all day and all night naked on top of you."

"Oh. Ohhhhhhhh" Cassie said, just starting to get the joke when Samantha kissed her, and she moaned happily into her girlfriend's mouth. Her hands tightened on Samantha's back, and she felt sparks of electricity go through her as she wrapped one of her thighs around Samantha's generous, round back side. "Mmmmmm... yes, yes I would like that, thank you." She murmured around Samantha's kisses, "Can I book that reservation now? I'll just tell my mom I'm going skiing in Italy or something..."

She giggled and kissed her again, sucking on Cassie's bottom lip. "Mmm, if you want to sign your winter vacation into my hands I must be doing something very, very right."

Cass kissed her back, moaning happily against Samantha's mouth. "Mmmm... are you kidding?" She gasped, stroking Sammi's back slowly up and down as she shivered from the feeling of her lover's fingers running through her hair, "If you weren't planning," she gasped, pulling her lip back and kissing Samantha again with hungry lips of her own, "to move into a house full of mean nasty people who don't like me," she giggled, "I'd totally be asking you to crash at my place every night- just for the warm sleep snuggles if nothing else." She nuzzled the side of Sammi's nose and fluttered her eyelashes. "Though other benefits might produce themselves, of course."

Samantha laughed. "I would imagine keeping your bed warm would be the kind of job that comes with irresistible benefits."

"Plus, I'm a good cook," Cassie asserted, grinning broadly as she began to list some of the potential benefits. "And I clean house - or at least bedroom - and do laundry, and I have big strong arms to hold you if you have bad dreams and I like to watch silly sappy romantic comedies and exciting genre tv shows while I munch on pizza rolls and cotton candy and I write smutty fanfic that you can read whenever you like..." she winked very suggestively. Then she laughed and play-pouted. "...and I'm only one-quarter joking and three-quarters serious." She smirked.

Samantha smirked. "My roommate resume is not so impressive. Though I do also have strong arms and a bunch of money. Are you trying to talk me out of the big cushy sorority house in favor of another cute cinder box with community bathrooms? I'm starting to feel like I should be the one hosting the sleepovers once I move." She winked.

Cassie smiled, and blushed, inclining her head to the side. "...is it dumb that I'm developing an attachment to our two existing rooms because we've already christened them with lots and lots of hot sweaty ladysex?"

Sam laughed. "But that's the thing about new rooms and new houses and new apartments. Re-christening is urgent and necessary."

Cassie ducked her head and leaned forward, nuzzling Samantha's cheek and earlobe while her eyes danced over Samantha's face invitingly. Her voice dropped to a seductive whisper while she blushed. "...well, what if I give you a standing invite to share my bed whenever you want? No strings. Come as often as you like. You don't even have to wake me, if I'm already asleep." She wrapped her arms around Sammi's waist and hugged her close, whispering in her ear. "I just wanna be with you when I wake up in the night, roll over and see you sleeping next to me." She smiled.

Samantha gave a little smile, her lashes fluttering. She found the offer incredibly attractive, and something about Cassie's tone gave the vision she painted a warm glow. She felt as though she was understanding the shape of Cassie's feelings for her and was touched by what she heard. More than that, she wanted it with a needy sort of desire that came from deep inside of her. Her voice was soft when she finally spoke. "I would like that... I would like that a lot." She set her cheek against Cassie's.

Cassie's smile flared like the sun at Samantha's response to her proposal, and then she giggled out a whisper and shivered with delighted excitement when Sammi's cheek pressed against her own. She smiled some more, purring and nuzzling the side of her girlfriend's face for a moment, whispering while she stroked Samantha's back. "No pressure, I promise. If you need to run away for a night once in a while, I'll understand. It's just there, whenever you want. I'm there. For you."

Samantha's heart swelled and she nuzzled her girlfriend's neck, giving her a squeeze around the waist. "Cassie, you are hands down my favorite person." She kissed her neck. "But if I don't go back to that book now my willpower is going to short out and I'll have to just invite you back to my room."

"S'okay," Cassie sighed happily, nuzzling the side of Samantha's face some more. "I got my happy feels and sweet nothings for the evening. I'll take you back," she began to slowly lower them back towards the cloud cover. "Unless you want some company tonight, of the non-sexy variety." She stifled a yawn of her own.

Samantha gave a little smile as they descended. "Think I can keep my hands to myself?"

Cassie smiled and nuzzled Sammi's cheek. "I think you could do anything you set your mind to." They swirled through clouds and down and down towards the campus. "Sides, I'll bring snacks."

She chuckled, glancing toward the ground as they sunk toward her building again. "Alright, sold. Me all on my lonesome with my Chem text book is a drag."

She grinned. "Alright. I'mma go grab a few things for the morning, then I'll be right back." She dropped them swiftly through the air as they neared the campus so that they wouldn't be made out, then slipped Sammi into her fire escape balcony and sped off again.

**Author's Note:**

> Super-clone Science stuff: Given the various kinds of tinkering and multi-trial formulae that Lexcorp and Cadmus scientists no-doubt engaged in while trying to produce a viable Super-clone from their small sample of Kryptonian DNA we figure there's no reason that SuperBOY couldn't have been SuperGIRL (keeping in mind that gender isn't automatically tied to genitalia or chromosomes.) A lot of what follows is just speculation about how things might have gone had the Superclone been assigned biologically female at birth. It's also a fantastic excuse to write an awesome ship as femslash. And clones!


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